SAO PAULO, July 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Iron ore miner Vale SA’s chief financial officer and its former chief executive should be indicted for manslaughter, a Brazilian Senate committee probing a deadly dam collapse recommended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The committee is also seeking the indictment of Vale itself as a company, as well as dam stability auditor T\u00dcV S\u00dcD, for environmental damages and corporate responsibility for actions of their employees in the late-January disaster that killed nearly 250 people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 400-page report recommended that a total of 14 individuals, including the two executives, be indicted for manslaughter, wrongful bodily injury, environmental damages and pollution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fabio Schvartsman stepped down as Vale’s CEO under pressure from prosecutors in March. Luciano Siani, also targeted by the committee, continues to serve as CFO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
T\u00dcV S\u00dcD said it was cooperating in full but declined to comment further, citing ongoing investigations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vale shares, which early in the session touched their highest since before the Brumadinho disaster, were down 5.8 per cent in afternoon trading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The nonbinding recommendations could influence prosecutors in their ongoing probe of Vale and its executives for negligence regarding the disaster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Vale’s tragedy is a series of tragedies,” the committee said in its report. “The immeasurable human loss; the countless dead animals; the environment destroyed for years, perhaps decades; the dreams and heritage of a lifetime buried by the carelessness, neglect, greed, usury, irresponsibility, indifference and sloppiness of a company that used to be a role model.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brazil must take action to ensure that “never again” will such a disaster occur, it said, recommending three laws that would require congressional approval.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One would outlaw all tailings dams for mining and industrial waste. A separate bill would hike taxes calculated on mineral production, while a third would expand the list of environmental crimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vale’s tailings dam ruptured in the city of Brumadinho in the mining state of Minas Gerais in late January, releasing a torrent of mud that buried hundreds of people, including a cafeteria full of workers at lunchtime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the following months, investigators and regulators pointed toward a risky “upstream” style of dam construction, improper maintenance and negligence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
T\u00dcV S\u00dcD certified the dam as stable in 2018 despite pointing out concerns about drainage and monitoring systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vale has argued that it followed all the required safety measures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While authorities have yet to conclude the cause of the rupture, a Minas Gerais state official and other experts suspect liquefaction, in which solid materials such as sand lose strength and become more like liquid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That was the same cause of a 2015 rupture of another upstream Vale dam that killed 19. — NNN-AGENCIES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SAO PAULO, July 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Iron ore miner Vale SA’s chief financial officer and its former chief executive should be indicted for manslaughter, a Brazilian Senate committee probing a deadly dam collapse recommended. The committee is also seeking the indictment of Vale itself as a company, as well as dam stability auditor T\u00dcV S\u00dcD, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[208],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31134"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31134\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}